Joyous Motherhood
by MS-Manuscript
Summary: Written for anon-prompt: Avengers seeing Loki and his kids celebrating mother's day. Not a follow up of "We All Have Our Strengths" but a sort of off-shoot of it. "It's a bit hard to swallow, seeing a huge snake sucking on its tail." One shot.


I do not own Avengers or Thor.

Written for anon-prompt: Avengers seeing Loki and his kids celebrating mother's day. Not a follow up of "We All Have Our Strengths" but a sort of off-shoot of it.

* * *

The warning had rung out through the compound; Loki was at it again. Well, "at it" might he a harsh term, Tony thought, as the team raced to their equipment and then out into the cool Sunday morning air. Loki had been _spotted_, and the civilians had called in for help, but there wasn't any explosions, no torn up buildings, nothing really to cause alarm.

Except for the rumor that there was a massive wolf in the restaurant. And a snake the size of the parking lot was with it. And a horse, a huge one, had been nipping at the wolf's ears. And with these three, Loki and a weird woman were following arm in arm. That's what had been said, at least. Tony didn't believe it, Clint offered "shrink help" for the lady who had called in the emergency, and Bruce had decided that he was going to wait and see what was going on before he did anything rash, like go green and big. When Thor finally caught up with them, and heard what was going on, he stopped dead in his tracks, turned around, and started to head back.

"And where do you think you're going?" Steve was less than pleased. He had intended to sleep in for once, and Loki had come along and ruined it.

"Loki shall not cause any harm, we should leave him to his breakfast."

"No harm? Okay, maybe, but he's out in the open, we could bring him into custody!"

"You wouldn't do that today, would you?"

"Why?" Natasha lowered her fists, jutting out a hip as she stared the thunder god down. "He's in a restaurant with a band of monsters, and you're afraid of upsetting his meal? Is it his birthday or something?"

Thor sized up his team for a moment, before leading the way back to the restaurant.

"I suppose I will have to show you. Loki will harm none this day."

What they found, none but Thor was prepared for. Loki was sitting in the middle of the largest table the restaurant had. Spread around it were, much to Tony's amazement, a giant snake, a huge wolf, a large horse with eight legs, and a woman that looked both beautiful and grotesque at the same time.

"Brother! Did you not think to inform us that you would have guests this day?"

"Oh shoo Thor! This is not your day, this is mine, and I will have it unspoilt with your presence. What should it matter to you if I have guests?"

"Hold up, what is this?" Steve couldn't tear his eyes from the snake that was sucking on his tail. Loki sighed, forgoing the cutting of his plate of pancakes.

"Jörmungandr, Fenris, Hel, Sleipnir, allow me to introduce my nemeses. You already know your Uncle Thor, these are his '_friends_' the Avengers. Ah, Banner, it is good of you to not destroy this establishment."

"'Uncle' Thor? Thor, would you like to explain?" Natasha had of course picked up on that.

"These are my nephews, and my niece."

"I kind of figured that with the term 'Uncle' but that doesn't explain what is going on." Clint had finally picked up his jaw from the carpet. Loki groaned in annoyance, patting the wolf's head as it growled in agreement.

"It is alright Fenris, I'll handle it. These are my children, if you must know. And we were having a very nice breakfast until you butted into our business."

"Your children are monsters."

"Very kind of you Stark, and you claim that I am the evil one. Hush Hela I know, the mortals are not very kind." Said girl was pressing her face into her hands, shivering slightly. Thor separated himself from his band and knelt by his niece, hugging her lovingly about the shoulders.

"You are not a monster Hela, Tony just does not understand what today is."

"Good point." Steve shook himself out of his stupor, nudging Bruce to do the same. "Why _are_ you here, and why today? If you're not going to use them to destroy the city then why be here?"

"I would not use my children in such a way! How dare you! Do none of you remember your own Midgardian custom? It is mother's day, is it not? We have the same on Asgard, where do you suppose you received the idea in the first place?"

"Mother's day?"

"Yes. Believe it or not, I _do_ celebrate a sentimental day such as this. As I do the birthdays of all my children, and they mine."

"But, you're a dude." Clint was less than tactful at the moment, which giving his surprise, could be forgiven.

"I am as much their mother as I am their father. Thor, would you mind, _please_, taking your friends away? I do not get this chance all this often and I would _like_ to enjoy it." With a curt nod Loki and his children turned their attention back to their food and their pleasant conversation (full of yips, barks, muffled hisses, knickers, and soft words) picked up as though they had not been interrupted. Thor left Hel's side, ushering his friends out the door, into the parking lot of the restaurant. Here he sat them on the curb.

"My brother has magic in his blood. At times, it causes changes within him that are beyond his control. He was a mare when Sleipnir was conceived, and birthed. Our father's doing, actually. It was very complicated for a while. Fenris, Hela, Jörmungandr, all have different circumstances, but they are just the same. They are Loki's children, birthed by Loki himself. He takes great pride in being a good parent to them, and this is a tradition they agreed upon long before any of them were cast out of Asgard."

"Wait, hold on." Bruce found his words at last. "I thought the other three came from a giantess?" The others looked at him, confused.

"What? After our first run in with Loki I brushed up on my Norse mythology. Which, by the way, I've been meaning to ask you Thor. Isn't Loki _Odin's_ brother, not yours?"

"There have been… _had_ been, some confusion between us and the humans some years past. Loki had been attempting to teach them to read and write, but they did not take to it too quickly. Our humans spread far and wide, on mighty ships, and took the stories we left them by mouth, not writing. They had been confused, over time."

"So, the stories are true then?"

"For the most part. There was no giantess, it was Loki himself. I believe there was some confusion on the behalf that Sif and Loki look somewhat alike? And we are, were, all much taller than the Midgardians of old. An honest mistake."

"HOLD UP!" Clint looked on the edge of a break down. "What is going on? What do you know that we don't?"

"In the old stories, Loki was coerced into distracting a horse, and had a child for his troubles. Sleipnir, am I right?" Thor nodded at Bruce's words. "The books go on to tell of Loki fathering a total of six children, Jörmungandr, Hel, and Fenris, but he was the father, not the mother. And now I wonder that snake letting go of his tail actually means the end of the world? And isn't Fenris supposed to be chained up? Why isn't Hel in the world of the dead?"

"Woah woah woah! Hold up." Tony stopped them this time, rising from the curb and letting his helmet slide shut. "I don't know about you guys, but this would probably be a _lot_ easier to swallow with some coffee, eggs, and as far from this place as we can get right now. I can see the snake through the window, and it's not making any of it any more understandable."

The team agreed, and quickly fled back to HQ without looking back.

Inside, Loki opened another card his children gave to him, hugging each in turn with all the love he could muster.

"Happy mother's day father!" Jörmungandr, Fenris, Hel, and Sleipnir chorused, grins wide as Loki cherished every second he had with his children.

"Thank you, so much, all of you. You are all the most wonderful children I could ever have hoped for."


End file.
